This is guide for choosing the RIGHT keywords for your SEO or PPC campaigns. People always ask me how do you know what my customers are searching for. My response, it's a combination of brainstorming and then using the tools that are available. It is important that you first brainstorm keywords and then use keyword suggestion tools to expand your list and look for new opportunities... BUT today I'm not here to tell you how to create a list of keywords a mile long, I'm here to teach you the secrets I've learned about choosing keywords that are highly profitable.

Write down your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. What differentitates you from your competition? Now brainstorm keywords that align themselves with your USP. If your USP is that you're the only company that offers bilingual services then brainstorm keywords related to your service and your bilingual capabilities.

Write down the pain point or problem your product solves... At what point do your customers realize they need your product.

The Customer Buying Cycle - The buying cycle gives you a progression of how a customer goes from not even knowing your product existed to purchasing and using it. Write down each stage of the buying cycle and brainstorm keywords for each stage.

Awareness - The moment when your customer first realizes they need "something" to fix their problem. Keywords associated with this stage often include "how do I." This is where the customer first starts thinking about what keywords would bring them the best search. What impacts their their keyword clarification? It's different for every factors. They start thinking about what they know about a potential solution, or what they'd want. They may think they want a solution that isn't what you do, if you optimize for it, you can make them aware about your industry. Being that they found that valuable information from you, if they're going to purchase from anyone wihtin your industry they will most likely purchase from you. This is a huge opportunity.

Information search - What keywords are associated with customers educating themselves about your industry? Write them down. Think about this, what if you could educate your customer on your industry? YOU CAN!

Alternative evaluation - What are the alternatives within your own industry as well as others that will solve the customers needs? Write them down. What are the keywords associated with this stage? Write them down. Think comparison charts. Compare the different types of solutions, I'm sure your solution will be the best ; )

Purchase decision - These are the most competitive keywords. They're the keywords searchers use right before they make the purchase. These are generally very specific keywords, albeit very expensive to acheive top rankings. When your customers make a purchase what keywords are they using?

Post purchase behavior - This is a really interesting one to me and a fun one to target. Here you can target words that help your customers find the infomation they need to use your product... Or consider this, consider that they went with a competitor and are trying to figure out how to do xyz, they do a google search and your web site comes up on how it is possible to do xyz with your product. Also how many times do you make a purchasing decision and realize it was the wrong one...

ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS if you're not asking how your customers found you, start doing that immediately. If you are and they tell you they did a google search, ask them what keywords they used to find you. I'd also ask just about everyone you know, you'd be surprised how diffferent people search.

Now you've got a pretty comprehensive list of keywords time to see how often they get search and at the same time see what googles keyword suggestion tool says. In this step I'd place all your keywords in one column of a spreadsheet with another column to the right titled demand. Use the Google Keyword Tool to figure out the demand. On the Google keyword tool selec the, Choose columns to display: Show estimated average cpc, this will give you an idea of how competitive the keyword is.

Remeber you want to find and target the keywords that are the most profitable for your company. Often times when you try to get the hole pie you end up getting none of it. Target the peice that makes the most sense for your business. I hope you've found this useful, I'll be doing more blogs on selecting good keywords.

Bonsai Media Group is a clan of designers, developers, and marketing ninjas. We stealthily navigate complex codes, design strategy, and search engine algorithms to provide clients with a web site that kicks ass, gets noticed, and drives business.